The public relations officer of the Nigeria Police Force, Olumuyiwa Adejobi, posted some images on his official X (formerly Twitter) account on November 19, 2023, claiming that the arms and ammunition in the picture he shared were recovered recently in the southeastern part of the country.
According to his caption, the arms and ammunition in the picture were discovered last week in Anambra State.
The caption reads, “These were recovered in Anambra last week from a gunrunner. The suspect is in our custody and is helping the police in their investigation.”
This post garnered many reactions, with many X users having something to say in the comment section.
While some users believed the police were doing a great job, others thought it was a public relations stunt to gain a cheap score.
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One of the comments reads, “The public relations officer of the Nigeria Police Force is using his verified handle to spread fake news here to create panic in the South East.”
Another comment reads, “Shame on this kind of police, these pictures have been on the internet since November 2023. A national police public relations officer is posting it on December 19, 2023 to achieve what exactly? Rumor says it’s just because Anambra was mentioned. We must return professionalism to the police. He is posting it again to gain cheap propaganda.”
“Timeline is very important in the dissemination of information to the public. It is very disingenuous to say last week when the incident is over a month now. Such actions create mistrust between the public and the police institution,” another user also wrote.
Even with all the negative comments and proof to debunk the post, Adejobi did not take down the post or give further information about the images posted.
Verification
Daily Trust on Sunday recalls that the same images had been shared in November and were reported by many national dailies.
A manual search was conducted to verify Adejobi’s claim and the result revealed that they were the same images from last month.
Further search using Google Reverse Image showed that it first appeared on November 18, 2023 when the police arrested gunrunners in Onitsha, Anambra State.
While some parts of his caption and the image may be accurate, the suggestion that it was recovered last week is misleading.
The arms and ammunition were said to have been recovered from a gunrunning syndicate that was arrested in Onitsha.
Background
On November 18, 2023, the police in Anambra State arrested a suspected gunrunning syndicate and recovered arms and ammunition.
Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Tochukwu Ikenga, the police spokesperson in the state, mentioned that 23 automatic pump action guns and 625 live cartridges were recovered in the process.
He added, “Three suspected members of the syndicate were arrested in Onitsha, while investigation is being expanded. The breakthrough followed weeks of intensive police surveillance of the syndicate.”
However, this is the pattern fake news merchants use to repurpose old images and videos to suit a narrative or cause panic. This is why it is important to always verify information received to avoid falling victim to fake news merchants.
Conclusion
Based on verifiable information, fact-checkers at Daily Trust can confirm that the post shared on X by the police public relations officer suggesting that some arms and ammunition were recovered from gunrunners last week in Anambra is not accurate; it is misleading.
The images shared were recovered on November 18, 2023 and not in December as suggested by Adejobi.
This fact check was produced in partnership with the Centre for Democracy and Development.
